theMOVE organizes farm-volunteer workdays for diverse urban groups throughout Metro Boston, to connect folks hands-on with fresh food, and with the labor and land that sustain us. We do this to expose the injustices embedded in our food system, and to inspire folks towards healthy, sustainable lifestyles which promote relationships of respect towards the people and places that produce our food. We conduct heavy outreach to attract new groups to the experience, we coordinate their trips from start to finish, we lead reflective exercises to enhance the learnings and exchanges folks gain, and we follow up with participants to encourage next steps towards community engagement and sustainable living. We focus most of our outreach towards low income communities, people of color, and youth. We primarily work with schools and community organizations to set up trips for their groups, but we also host occasional open sign-up trips for individual adults and families.

In our 2010 pilot year, we engaged 150 participants, and in our 2011 launch year, we engaged 320. This year, we aim to organize 38 trips serving 600 new volunteers.

CORE RESPONSIBILITIES

We are seeking an energetic Communications & Outreach Coordinator to publicize our work, engage our community of supporters, and expand our community outreach. Responsibilities of the position will vary, but will foremost be to:

(e) conduct community outreach for our trips by tabling at community fairs, setting up tastings and other small events with community partners, and designing/posting flyers

(f) co-lead trips and support some fundraising efforts as needed

The direction of this position is open to the creativity, strengths, and interests of the communications & outreach coordinator. All duties will be heavily supported by other staff.

KEY QUALITIES SOUGHT

Foremost, we’re seeking someone who is extremely hardworking – who deeply enjoys the satisfaction of a finished product. The ideal candidate should also possess a high level of self-discipline and be capable of handling a flexible work environment (home office for meetings, otherwise working remotely), a flexible schedule (trips can occur at all times of the week, though we schedule them according to our staff’s availability), and a flexible task list (multi-tasking and taking initiative on new projects). Other qualities sought:

Solid writing, verbal communication, and photography skills
Comfort with computer/web applications and photo/video devices
Comfort and experience working with the diverse communities of Metro Boston, and to some degree directly relatable to our focal populations (urban Metro Bostonians, low income communities, people of color, youth)